ABB extends integration of artificial intelligence with robotics in China

ABB, one of the four global robot giants, is deepening its integration of artificial intelligence into robotics in China to offer customers simple, flexible, and smart products and services, the company said in Shanghai on Wednesday.

ABB is riding the wave of industrial AI innovation and is embedding AI into the ABB business with over 100 AI projects in progress, said Sami Atiya, president of ABB's Robotics and Discrete Automation Business.

Atiya shared the company's AI strategy at the ABB Robotic Mega Factory in the Pudong New Area, which opened in 2022.

Credit: Zhu Shenshen / SHINE

"As the development of generative AI continues at pace, we are experiencing a significant leap forward in how we work, learn, and innovate," Atiya said. "Machines are smarter, more capable and easier to use, lowering the barriers to automation for companies of all sizes while addressing our customers' needs for greater flexibility and intelligence amidst critical skilled labor shortages and global uncertainty."

Half of all robots in the world have been adopted and used in China, which is also ABB's second-largest regional market by revenue.

With generative AI, people are not only "programming" robots, but "talking and teaching" robots directly, which greatly improves efficiency and lowers barriers, and also makes sense for small- and medium-sized enterprises, ABB said.

The company's strategy fits well with China's national strategy to encourage development of a modernized industrial sector and smart manufacturing.

China is "actively cultivating new and future industries, promoting artificial intelligence to empower modern industrialization," Jin Zhuanglong,chief of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Henry Han, president of ABB Robotics in China, said in Shanghai that China is the world's largest robot market and a leading player in the global AI landscape. The integration of AI with robotics could be used for automotives, electronics, education, and new sectors such as health care, retail, and new energy in China.